Saturday, May 21, 2016

As women, God has made us unique
with particular skills, instincts, and tendencies. Whether or not we have children of our own,
we have these motherly instincts and qualities and they are good. And they
teach us about who God is and they teach our kids about who God is. Many of
these qualities may at first seem to be mundane and not important and can even
easily become burdensome tasks-- a duty not a delight. Such as feedings every 3
hours, or a clingy baby that only wants mama, or keeping them creatively entertained,
or what seems like constant correction. But in each of these there is marvelous
truth to be seen if you know what to look for.

God’s character
revealed through tasks

God created babies to begin their
life with needing one source of nourishment—milk—and you are that source of
that nourishment. Whether you breast-feed or formula-feed, the baby cannot feed
himself. He is helpless without you. He cries out to you to let you know the
pain he is in and there is only one thing that will satisfy! Only one thing
that will be sufficient! It doesn’t matter that he just did it 2 hours
previously. It doesn’t matter that it is 3 am. He tried the pacifier but it’s
not the same! He needs you!This task of
mothering can seem unimportant and even bothersome. It’s easy to miss the
bigger picture if you aren’t looking. Isn’t this exactly how we are? We are
helpless babes that don’t know what we need but we know we are in pain and we
cry out! We have tried to soothe ourselves with lesser things. They weren’t
sufficient. But God is sufficient! He is all-sufficient! In Him we have no need
or lack. And aren’t we glad He meets our needs every time we cry out. It
doesn’t matter to Him if we just asked 2 hours ago for something.It doesn’t matter to Him if its 3 am.He is faithful.Praise God, He doesn’t tire or begrudgingly
help us. Instead He tells us that His grace is sufficient for our wearisome
task. Isn’t it amazing that from life’s first cry mothers get to display God’s
sufficiency. And the first thing the baby learns is that when he cries out, you
will give him what he needs. Don’t forget to do the same when your joy for the
midnight feeding is not there. And the mother and the babe now have a category
that God is sufficient and a provider.

God’s character
revealed through busy-ness

Just when you feel like you’ve got
this feeding thing down, you blink and they are toddlers. They can run, and
play, and build, and dig, and color, and are happy—as long as you are doing it
all right there with them…over and
over and over again! Your energy is
low. Theirs is high. You are satisfied with one game of knock down the tower.
They are satisfied with eleventy hundred games of knock down the tower. You
like coloring on the paper placed right in front of you. They like coloring on
the walls in the other room. You like to eat three meals a day they like to eat
12 meals a day…or maybe none at all. You like to eat bananas with your mouth.
They like to eat bananas with their hair. It seems like you get nothing done.
Like you are going from one mess to another following a little tornado around
the house all. day. long. Is there ever a waking moment you are not with them?
Maybe to use the bathroom? No. Even that is now a spectator event.It’s almost as if you are ever-present in
their life.And while that may seem
mundane to you, let’s stop and marvel at what’s really happening. Think of the
security it gives to that tender heart and mind that may not be capable of understanding
why he can’t pee on the carpet whenever he wants, but surely is capable of understanding
something much greater-- that mommy is here, mommy is always here. Oh, wait…..who does that remind you of? Our faithful
God is ever-present in our life and aren’t you glad He is? He too is always here cleaning up our messes,
guiding us, teaching us. Again, I find it amazing that we as mothers display His
character of faithful shepherd in our ordinary day of getting nothing done but
cleaning up messes. And the mother and the toddler now have a category for
faithfulness, teacher, shepherd, omni-presence and hopefully patience,
gentleness, and joy as well.

God’s character
revealed through repetition

Before you know it, they are old
enough for school….and apparently old enough for sass! It seems that with the
increase of age also comes the increase of testing boundaries that you were
sure were clearly established--rules that were made for their protection. You
take on the role of playing both judge and jury to important life-or-death arguments
like whose turn it is to sit where for the 3-minute car ride to Walmart. And in
your composed, gentle, and loving voice you declare the solid wisdom of, “YOU’LL SIT WHERE I TELL YOU TO SIT AND
YOU’LL LIKE IT!” You also get to have interesting conversations about
things you could never prepare for like “Why we don’t eat deodorant,” or “Why
we don’t draw with permanent marker on our sister’s face.” What Bible verse
applies to that? How do I relate the gospel to this? …the marker is like our
sin?….umm…do unto others, so now your sister gets to draw on you?….children
obey your parents always works, right?….I don’t know….just don’t do it because I said so! UGH! Why is
disciplining so hard and so constant? Didn’t we just go through this yesterday?
Yes, you did! And you will again tomorrow and the next day. Repetition is how
we all learn, isn’t it? We don’t sing the ABC’s once to our child and expect
them to know it. We sing it over and over and over again while we play and
while we get dressed and while we walk and we don’t get upset when they try to
sing it and they get mixed up or forget a letter. We gently correct them and
encourage them to try again, don’t we? Why do we expect a different method and
use a different form of correction when it comes to other matters much more
important than our ABC’s? And yet no matter how many times your child will fail
you in the day, and yet no matter how many times you will fail your child,
there is love. Unconditional love. You wouldn’t trade her for anything in the
world. Is there another way to understand this quality of God? Yes, we have a
deep love for our husband, but it is often tainted with our sinful curse that
puts conditions on our love for him. But our children….no matter what the day
brought, no matter what sins they committed, we can’t help but love them, and
they us! And the same is true for us as a child of God. No matter how we failed
Him in our mothering, in our parenting, as a wife, He has a deep unconditional
love for us. He wants what’s best for us and sets boundaries for us and is
jealous for us to love Him alone. And He gently repeats over and over to us the
way we should go. And now the mother and
the child have a category for God as master, protector, discipliner, and
unconditional love.

God’s character
revealed through perseverance

Then what seems like the next day,
your teenager begins asking weird questions in a deep voice such as, “Can I
take a nap?” or “Can I take a shower?” and you freak out a little and wonder
how you fell into this time warp where your baby aged, but you didn’t and you realize
its almost over. They are about to leave you …and they want to! When did that
happen?! Why am I the clingy one now never wanting him to leave? I’m finally
getting this mothering thing down and now they are all leaving me. But wait,
isn’t that what it was all about? They want to leave because they are ready to
leave, because you made them ready to leave. Every lesson, every discipline,
every play time, every meal time was preparing them for a life on their own to
go forth and do the same. Because of the security of growing up under the
guidance of their mother they are ready. And just because they are gone,
doesn’t mean your title of mother is gone. In fact, you may just get promoted
to the title of grandmother! You will always be their mother and they will
always be your child. It is an everlasting title. Just as God is everlasting
and we will always be his child.

So do not grow weary in doing good,
mothers! For in due season you will reap, if you do not give up! Do not give
up, mother! Marvel in the mundane of motherhood. There is much to learn from
it. It is a gift to you and to your children. Nothing is wasted in the hands of our Redeemer. And now the mother
and the young adult have a category for God’s perseverance, and endurance, and security,
and trust, and an everlasting loving Father.

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